Maternal and newborn seroprevalence of Hepatitis E virus at Medani Hospital, Sudan

What is it about?

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection can lead to adverse maternal and perinatal outcomes and is a risk for mortality in pregnant women. There are few published data on the seroepidemiology of HEV infection in pregnant women and none are available from Sudan specifically. A cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate the seroepidemiology of anti-HEV Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies in mothers and newborns in Medani Hospital, Sudan. Socio-demographic, clinical and obstetric characteristics of the women were gathered using questionnaires. Anti-HEV IgG antibodies were investigated in the paired maternal and newborn sera using an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). Two hundred and nine women were enrolled to the study. Out of these 209, 25 (12.5%) women had a positive result for anti-HEV IgG and two (1.0%) newborns had a positive result for anti-HEV IgG.In logistic regression none of the investigated factors (age, parity, gestational age, residency and education) were associated with anti-HEV IgG seropositivity.

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Why is it important?

here is a high seroprevalence of HEV among pregnant women in central Sudan regardless of their age, parity and gestational age. Optimal preventive measures against HEV infection should be employed.